


Awoken

by RainHarmonia



Category: Penumbra (Video Games)
Genre: All characters but the Tuurngait are just mentions though, Gen, hey look, it's me on my bullshit, trying to figure out the Tuurngait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29148798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainHarmonia/pseuds/RainHarmonia
Summary: Humans learned many things over the centuries. Unfortunately, one of those things was not how to leave in peace those that did not wish to be disturbed.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Awoken

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is just me trying to figure out why the Tuurngait goes from trying to kill Philip throughout all of Black Plague to suddenly asking him for help. Also because trying to write a hivemind is fascinating.

There had been some hope, when it had retreated to this isolated haven, that when next it emerged, mankind would have become wiser to the ways of the world. The great mass had curled in on itself, pulling all of its bodies close inside the stone temple, and fallen to slumber. There was no way to tell how much time had passed, not when all of it lapsed into this trance. There it had planned to remain until it desired to reach for the surface once more. Somehow, it had never expected its plans to be disrupted.

Mankind had grown, but not in wisdom. They had grown in power, and in greed, and they had breached its sanctum so deep beneath the earth. They were coming for it; it was certain. The collective rolled over, half-awake, fingers straining towards the nearest invaders, a dozen of its bodies leaping to its defense. A quick brush, and its seed was planted. Content that the matter was handled, it settled back into its sleep. Except now it slept with one figurative, and many literal, eyes open.

It swept through the invaders, claiming many of their bodies for itself. A simple enough task, one that did not require any excessive amount of effort on its behalf. Mankind was a step up from their primitive monkey ancestors, but still no match for the collective. They broke into individuals, and were each easily swept away. Guards were posted, to ensure more would not come.

It was roused again, this time by a singular mankind. A mankind who spoke to it. How-ard, the mankind had called itself. Himself? Him. A pronoun, to identify what mankind called “genders”, it recalled from a time that had not felt so long ago, when it had existed more closely with the mankind called Inuit. Centuries had not granted mankind wisdom, but this How-ard was different. It knew this, for the connection required for communication allowed it to peer into the truth of the mankind’s thoughts. Here was one who could be trusted to ensure it would not be disturbed again until it was ready.

In the end, How-ard had not been able to withstand the collective, his mind crumbling away beneath it. It left him to his end, seeing no need for further contact. He had fulfilled what had been asked of him. Its guards would remain for as long as it felt necessary, as an extra precaution, but it returned mostly to its peaceful sleep.

Its furthest selves, so far from the main collective that it had not entirely been able to overtake its hosts, was the first indication of a new invader. Its mankind half-host rambled into a primitive communication device and although an answer was never received, the half-host was certain that there was someone present. The dogs that mankind had brought and that it had subsequently claimed for itself began to catch trails of scent and flashes of movement. 

Every so often, there would be a flair of pain, the loss of one body dulled against the vastness of itself, and a dog would no longer be accessible. The mankind was next. Heaving a sigh, the collective woke itself to position bodies near the door that the half-host had guarded under its influence. The unsuspecting invader had nowhere else to go but straight into its arms, and it locked him away with the other mankinds that had yet to succumb to it. As with the rest, the seed was planted and it would only take time. Thousands of eyes closed once more, even as tens remained open.

Time passed, and it should have felt the joining of a new self into the collective. The body that went to check found the invader’s prison room empty. No. If the invader would not be joined to it, then the invader would die. It would not allow this disturbance, nor would it allow this mankind to send word back to the rest and bring them here. Bodies patrolled, and occasionally caught sight of its quarry. Yet the mankind always managed to escape.

The question of the mankind’s continued individuality gnawed at it during this time. It skimmed across its many selves, always acutely aware of how many there were. Except… Except that one was missing, the collective’s connections to that self frayed so terribly that it could not commune with the self, it could not find the self. It only could sense that the connection had not been severed completely. A thin strand remained, enough to know that the self still lived outside of the collective. Impossible! This was an affront to its very being. There could never be just one. The collective roiled, more bodies ranging out to find the rogue self. In the face of this insult, the mankind mattered not. He would not be able to leave before this horror was dealt with.

While the bodies hunted, it inspected the frayed connection, testing its way across the razor wire that remained. For a brief moment, enough of it slipped through the strand to sense the singular abomination residing in the mind of none other than the invader. A moment was all that it needed to see where they were, to sift through the rogue’s thoughts and the invader’s. 

A moment, that could have saved the mankind had he not made the wrong choice. For when it cornered and destroyed the singular self, it also located the mankind, who had been created from the self of How-ard in that strange way that mankind grew its numbers. If the mankind was here, then How-ard had not succeeded, and a second attempt would have to be made. If this mankind came from the self of How-ard, he should share the qualities that How-ard had possessed. And so it tested the mankind, sharing with him what it had shared with How-ard and passing on the same task. And when the mankind agreed, one final test was given. And within the simulation inside the mankind’s mind that he took for reality, it watched as he betrayed its trust.

Mankind had grown no wiser to the ways of the world.

It struck him down. With guards still in place now that it did not know how many more of mankind would come, the collective retreated back to its stone haven, curling up to rest and prepare.

**Author's Note:**

> Philip, you big stupid. That's all I have to say. I can't believe Clarence was your one braincell.


End file.
